Along an assembly line, diapers and various types of other absorbent articles may be assembled by adding components to and otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, absorbent cores, front and/or back ears, fastener components, and various types of webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, and waist elastics. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing web(s) and component parts are subjected to a final knife cut to separate the web(s) into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles. The discrete diapers or absorbent articles may also then be folded and packaged.
As mentioned above, during the assembly process, various continuous webs of material are used to manufacture diapers. Generally, these webs of material are supplied on spools that comprise a core and a web material wound around the core. For example, films and elastics may be wound about the core to comprise a spool. Typically, the diameter of the core is relatively small in comparison to the diameter of the material wound about the core. Thus, spools are often prone to becoming misaligned when being handled. Stated another way, the material wound about the core may easily become spirally displaced such that the material farthest from the core is not in line with the material wound about the surface of the core. Thus, the side of the spool fails to be a substantially planar surface. In addition to the general structure of the spool, the need for operators to handle spools also increases the risk of placing a spirally displaced spool on the manufacturing line. Due to the relatively large amount of material used in manufacturing absorbent articles, the spools are handled frequently by operators. For example, operators are often required to remove the spools from the storage container, mount the spool on the unwind mandrel, and push the spool into the proper location for unwind. Thus, there are relatively numerous opportunities for the spool to become spirally displaced. Placing a spool that has undergone some degree of displacement may lead to a disruption in material fed to the manufacturing line that may result in, for example, defective products and manufacturing down time.
Thus, a need exists for a method and an apparatus that reduces the potential of having a spirally displaced spool loaded on the unwind device and reduces the potential for disruption in the material being supplied to the manufacturing line.